Fastener



B. C. PLACE July 11, 1939.

FASTENER Filed March 21, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 5 grwmwbon B. C. PLACE July 11, 1939.

FAS TENER Filed March 21, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jw J milbrl i Patented Juiy 11, 1939 UNITED" STATES PATENT OFFICE FASTENER Bion C. Place, Detroit, Mich., assignor of onehalf to George E. Gagnier, Detroit, Mich.

Application March'21, 1936, Serial No. 70,119

' 3 Claims. (Cl. 24-213) The Present invention v es a pr sother in order that, when the legs are entered tener intended p ly for satisfactorily in the perforation or socket, said ends are I ecur hollow moldings 1 9 a metallic r e brought into firm contact, thus very substantially Supporting t cture. by snapping the entering increasing the power of said legs to retain the part of the fastener in a perforation in said molding upon its support. 5 structure. More particularly, the invention is Still another object of the invention is to concerned with a spring fastener constructed of provide a molding clip or fastener having an sheet metal in such manner that the head of the entering part consisting only of two outwardly fastener firmly engages opposite walls of a holbowed legs, the ends of which are disposed dilow molding, regardless of the type, and a shank rectly opposite each other and are formed so as 10 orentering part that possesses satisfactory holdto present a rounded entering nose formed to ing power in spite of the fact that the fastener avoid scratching or marring the surfaces of the may be constructed of relatively inexpensive thin support in entering the entering part of the sheet metal. fastener in the perforation or socket therein.

The principal purpose of the present invention Still further objects of the invention will ap- 15 is to provide a sheet metal fastener designed to pear in the course of the description of preferred fac litate the attachment of hollow moldings of embodiments of the invention, which embodirelatively great height to the support for the ments are described with reference to the accommoldings, and to secure said moldings in such panying drawings in which:

manner that they are firmly but yieldingly held Figures 1, 2 and 3 are respectively side, edge 20 upon the support by a shank consisting only of and top plan views of a preferred form of fastener two arms disposed directly opposite each other including the present invention. and arranged to contact, when said arms are Figure 4 is a fragmentary plan view of a holforced in a perforation or socket in the support, low molding applied to a fragment of a support and which legs are bent, with respect to the head by means of the fastener illustrated in Figures 25 of the fastener that carries them, at points spaced 1, 2 and 3. substantially above the support whereby the legs Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on the plane are provided'with a highly desirable degree of indicated by the lines 55 looking in the dires-ilicnce at the points where they engage said rection of the arrows.

perforation or socket in the support. Figure 6 is a sectional view taken on the plane 30 A further object of the invention is to provide indicated by the lines 6-6 of Figure 4., a fastener for hollow moldings, characterized by Figures 7 and 8 are side and edge'views of a the fact that the head includes an elongated body modified form of fastener designed particularly bearing over a substantial area of the inside of for use in securing hollow moldings of substantial the top wall of the molding, which body is adeheight constructed in oval form. 36 quately maintained against said inside by a Figure 9 is a sectional view of an oval molding multiplicity of arms depending ref o nd such as may be satisfactorily secured by the fasengaging an opposite wall of the molding, and tener illustrated in Figures! and 8; from which body long outwardly bowed legs de- Figure 10 is a view similar to Figure 1, but pend approximately centrally between said arms, showing a modification of the fastener of the 40 the latter serving to yieldingly maintain the faslatter figure. I tenor immovably in the molding before the enter- Figure 11 is a view similar to Figure 4 showing ing part of the fastener is sprung in the perfothe fastener of Figures 1, 2 and 3 applied to a ration or socket provided to receive it, and after modified form of molding in another preferred said entering part has been engaged in operative way. 45

1 position. Figures 12 and.13 are sectional views taken on Still another object of the invention is to prolines I 2-4-42 and l3l3 of Figure 11. vide apmolding fastener constructed 'from rela- Figures 14 and 15'are side and edge views of a tively thin sheet metal which is made to possess modified form of fastener designed particularly so satisfactory holding power by disposing the outfor use in securing hollow moldings of the type warc'lly bowed legs, constituting the entering part shown in Figure 9.

or shank of the fastener directly opposite each Like reference characters indicate like parts other, and arranging the ends of the outwardly throughout the several figures. bowed legs remote from the head that carries The fastener of the form of the invention illusthem so that they are in close proximity to each trated in Figures 1, 2 and 3 is constructed from 55 necessary to produce the fastener from a sheet of metal and properly tempering the blank after it has been bent into the form illustrated in- Figures' 1, 2 and 3. As illustrated in said figures, the fastener comprises a fiat body ll, preferably of elongated rectangular form, said body being intended to bear against the inside of the top wall of a hollow molding over a substantial area of said wall, so that when pressure is applied to the molding in order to force the entering part of the fastener, presently to be referred to, into the perforation or socket in the support it will be distributed over a substantial area of the molding, thus preventing distortion or marring of the molding by forcing the fastener to make a groove or indentation in said outer wall during the application of said pressure. Arms l2, l3, l4 and if: depend from the four corners of the rectangular body preferably from the long sides of said body as illustrated. Said arms are flexible and the ends l5 thereof are preferably bent curved as illustrated. The flexible arms have portions, adjacent said ends, that each extend at an acute angle to the body permitting the ends to yield toward and from the plane of said body and toward and from a plane bisecting the body lengthwise thereof. Two outwardly bowed legs l6 and I! depend from the same side of the body II as said arms, said legs constituting the shankor entering part of the spring fastener. The legs "3 and I] are disposed directly opposite each other and the ends I8 and I9 of said legs remote from the body I, are brought into close proximity to each other so that when the entering part of the fastener is sprung in the perforation in the supporting structure in the manner presently to be described, said ends I 8 and I9 firmly contact with each other, thus multiplying the holding power 'of said shank or entering part.

The fastener just described is designed particularly to secure a hollow molding such as the molding 20 illustrated in Figures 5, 6 and 7 upon a suitable supporting structure 2|. The molding 2|! has relatively great height as illustrated and is of rectangular form. Relatively narrow inturned flanges 22 and 23 are formed on said molding 20. The fastener of Figures 1, 2 and 3 isconstructed sothat the width of the head of the fastener measured across the arms [2 and I3, or M and i5, exceeds somewhat the internal width of the molding measured between the side walls. Thefasteners are assembled with respect to the molding by inserting them in an open end and sliding them along the length of the molding, the ends of the arms I2, I 3, l4 and I5 being pressed inwardly sufficient to enable the head of the fastener to be entered therein. The fastener is also designed so that when said arms I2, l3, l4 and l5 are compressed somewhat in entering them in the molding, the body ll of the head is firmly forced into contact with the inside of the top wall thereof, so that, when the fastener is in assembled relation, the head thereof bears firmly against the inside of the top wall and the ends of the arms l2, l3, l4 and I5 bear against the inside of the inturned flanges 22 and 23, said arms being placed under some tension insuring a firm engagement between the molding and said body and the ends of said arms. The fastener is slid to the proper position along the length of the molding and will remain in said position in view of said firm engagement. The legs i6 and IT project between the inturned flanges 22 and 23 and extend substantially beyond the molding as illustrated. A number of fasteners are assembled within the hollow molding in the manner just stated.

The molding is then ready to be applied to the support 2|, which is provided with perforations 26 for the reception of the entering parts of the fastener comprising the legs i6 and i1 as before stated. In securing the molding the protruding entering parts of the fasteners are forced through the perforations 26 by applying pressure to the outer wall of the molding 20. In view of the wide area of said wall covered by the body ll of the head, it will be understood that, as above stated, the molding will not be marred by exerting said pressure in causing the entering part to enter saidperforations. When the legs "5 and II are forced in said perforations the wedge formed by their ends remote from the head will first cause said legs to firmly contact at the ends of the shank of the fastener, and a subsequent flattening of the legs will occur to permit the shank to be passed through said perforations, theover-all width of the shank at its point of maximum outward bowing substantially exceeding the diameter of the opening 26. After the point of maximum outward bowing has been passed through the perforations 26, the legs tend to resume their original form and firmly engage the inner corner of the perforations 26 serving to retain the molding upon the support 2| in a manner that will be obvious to those skilled in the art. It will be observed that inasmuch as the legs i6 and I1 contact at the ends of the shank of the fastener and bend at the point of their connection to the body II, which point, it will be observed, is disposed substantially above the supporting structure 2|. In view of this and the height of the molding, the legs l6 and i1 have a high degree of resilience at the points at which they contact with the inner corner of the perforation 26, thus providing a firm though resilient engagement between said legs and said corner.

In Figures 7 and 8 a modified form of clip or fastener is illustrated including arms 30 designed particularly for use in connection with a molding such as designated by 3| in Figure 9. The molding in the latter figure has an oval crosssection and includes substantially wide inwardly turned flanges 32 and 33. The preferred form of fastener for such molding includes resilient arms 30 bent as illustrated best in Figure 7, said arms being curved to approi' *e the inner contour of the molding. Prefexal. le maximum width, measured across the fastener, somewhat exceeds the maximum internal cross dimension of the molding and the spacing of the arm ends from the top portion exceeds somewhat the interior height of the molding so that when the fasteners of this form of the invention are inserted in the molding, from the end thereof, the arms 30 are bent from the full line position in Figure 7 to the dotted line position, whereby said arms are caused to fit snugly in the molding and bear firmly against the inner walls thereof. In this way the fasteners remain in position and the molding cannot move with respect to the fastener after the legs i6 and H are sprung in the perforations or sockets in the supports in the manner befor described. Except for the formation of the arms 30 in the curved, rather than the angular form of the arms of the invention of Figures 1, 2 and 3, the fastener of Figures 7 and 8 is identical with that of said former figures and it is used in precisely the same way.

A still further modification of the invention 'to prevent ready scratching of the surface of the support during the application of the molding thereto and may be used when the surface of the support is to be protected. In other respects the fastener of Figure 10 corresponds to that of Figures 1, 2 and 3.

If desired the fastener of Figures 1, 2 and 3 -may be inserted in a molding 40 such as that shown in Figures 11, 12 and 13. In order that the fastener of Figures 1, 2 and 3 may be used with molding 40, it is desirable that the fastener be inserted with body II in engagement with the inside top wall of molding 40 and the arms l2, i3, i4 and IS in contact with flanges 42 and 43 and extending lengthwise of the molding. This disposition of the fastener is preferred since the height of molding 40 is much less than that of arms l2, l3, l4 and I5 and flanges 42 and 43 are so short that the fastener could not readily be inserted in the position shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6. In addition to the desirable economy in metal in forming the molding a further advantage resulting from the present mode of assembly, is that the fasteners may be slid to the proper position along the length of the molding with less effort, due to the fact that arms II, II, l4 and I! do not grip molding 40 with as much force when disposed in the manner Just described. The

engagement of the fastener head and molding 40, however, is sufliciently firm to retain the fastener in proper position lengthwise of molding 40.

In order that the economies and advantages resulting from the use of the fastener in the manner just described may be obtained in securing a molding like that shown in Figure 9, a still further modified form of fastener similar to the fastener of Figures 7 and 8 is provided. This fastener, shown in Figures 14 and 15,- is identical to that shown in Figures 7 and 8 except that the body I l is extended beyond arms and curved to provide arms 46 and 41 approximating the inner contour of the molding. Preferably the maximum width, measured across arms 48 and 41, somewhat exceeds the maximum internal cross dimension of the molding and the spacing of the arm ends from the top portion ll slightly exceeds one-half the interior height of the molding so that when the fasteners of this form of the invention are inserted in the molding, from the,

end thereof, the arms Ill, 46 and 41 are bent from the full line position in Figures 14 and 15 to the dotted line position. This novel construction results in arms 46 and 4'! fitting snugly in molding 40 in firm engagement against the inner wallsthereof to prevent lateral movement of the fastener while the arms 30 bear firmly on flanges 42 and 43 to prevent longitudinal rocking of the fastener. A fastener constructed in this manner permits relatively easy sliding of the fastener to the proper position along the length of the molding and provides a firm engagement to maintain the correct positioning of the fastener.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A spring stud fastener for ahollow molding, comprising a head consisting of an elongated body formed to contact along a substantial portion of the length of a wall of said molding, a plurality of resilient and movable arms projecting from longitudinal sides of said body, said armszo 2. A spring stud fastener constructed of sheet metal for a hollow molding, comprising a head consisting of a body constructed in elongated form to contact along a substantial portion of the length of the top wall of said molding, a pair of resilient and movable arms extending from each of the longer sides of said body adjacent the corners thereof, said arms each having a portion adjacent the end thereof disposed in outwardly extending acute angular relationship thereto to provide flexible ends capable of yielding toward and from the plane of said body and toward and from a'plane bisecting said body lengthwise and a pair of outwardly bowed legs depending from the mid-portion of said sides of said body between said arms and forming the expansible and contractible shank of the fastener.

3. A spring stud fastener constructed of sheet metal for a hollow molding, comprising a head consisting of a body constructed in elongated form to contact along a substantial portion of the length of a wall of said molding, a pair of arms extending from each of the longer sides of said body adjacent the corners thereof, said arms each having a portion adjacent the end thereof disposed in outwardly extending acute angular relationship theretoto provide flexible ends movable toward and from the plane of said body and toward and from a plane bisecting said body lengthwise, the end of said arms being curved, and a pair of outwardly bowed legs depending from said body and extending substantially beyond said arms, said legs-being disposed directly opposite each other at their ends remote from said body and in close proximity so as to contact when the legs are sprung in a perforation or socket. 

